School Sends Home 200 Pupils For Breaking Strict Uniform Rules

A school sent home more than 200 pupils for failing to meet its strict uniform standards.

Hanson Academy in Bradford, West Yorkshire, introduced a strict enforcement policy after the half-term break and turned away 152 pupils on Tuesday (Nov 4), which it detailed on its website.

A further 63 pupils were sent home the next day for a variety of reasons, including wearing hooped earrings, having unnatural hair colour, failing to display school IDs correctly and breaching strict footwear rules.

Angry parents criticised the policy on the school's Facebook page, but the academy claimed it 'communicated clearly' its expectations for this school year, and staff were simply enforcing existing regulations.

Principal Elizabeth Churton said in a statement: "We explained that students who arrived to school with a uniform issue that could be resolved would be sent home to rectify.

"The majority rectified this immediately and returned to school."

In an interview with the BBC, the principal said rules were an important part of growing up to get students ready for 'adult life'.

Mum-of-two Lindsay Stansfield, 34, said her son Mason, 14, was sent home on Tuesday and then again yesterday because of his shoes.

The primary school teaching assistant said: "There has to be rules and regulations and but refusing education because of what somebody is wearing on their feet is a step too far."

Mason said: "I've been wearing these shoes since September and I thought they were OK for school rules."

Student Joe White, 17, who was sent home for not displaying his school ID, said: "I feel some of the rules are quite mean and the only thing they have caused us is to waste our education."

Carem Oxlaide's son was another pupil sent home for not wearing the regulation black shoes.